U.S. patent number 4,662,212 [Application Number 06/752,535] was granted by the patent office on 1987-05-05 for measuring instrument for concentration of gas.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Sumitomo Bakelite Company Limited. Invention is credited to Morito Idemoto, Fumiaki Matsunaga, Yasuo Noguchi.
United States Patent |
4,662,212 |
Noguchi , et al. |
May 5, 1987 |
Measuring instrument for concentration of gas
Abstract
A gas concentration measuring instrument using the dependency of
the propagation velocity of ultrasonic wave propagating in gas on
the gas concentration incorporates a dampproof ultrasonic sensor
with a metal or the like deposited by evaporation on the surface of
the sealing material. Therefore, this gas concentration measuring
instrument is almost not affected by the change of temperature and
humidity and can precisely measure gas concentration continuously
for a long period of time under high humidity. The ultrasonic
sensor is formed fundamentally by an ultrasonic vibrator, a holder
and a sealing material. More preferably, this sensor is embedded in
a block and sealed with an elastic sealing material and a film of
conductive material and/or a nonconductive material is formed on
the surface of the sealing material, the elastic sealing material,
the vibrating end surface of the ultrasonic sensor and the end
surface of the block.
Inventors: |
Noguchi; Yasuo (Yokohama,
JP), Idemoto; Morito (Tokyo, JP),
Matsunaga; Fumiaki (Yokohama, JP) |
Assignee: |
Sumitomo Bakelite Company
Limited (Tokyo, JP)
|
Family
ID: |
26449172 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/752,535 |
Filed: |
July 8, 1985 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Sep 10, 1984 [JP] |
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59-188018 |
May 23, 1985 [JP] |
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60-109420 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
73/24.01;
310/323.21; 310/324; 310/340; 310/344 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G01N
29/024 (20130101); G01N 2291/02809 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G01N
29/02 (20060101); G01N 29/024 (20060101); G01N
029/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;73/24,30,32A
;310/340,344,334,336 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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|
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|
|
47-6797 |
|
Feb 1972 |
|
JP |
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48-34535 |
|
May 1973 |
|
JP |
|
Other References
Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, vol. 32, No. 7, Jul.
1976, pp. 436-442. .
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 63 (6), Jun. 1978, Chen, et al., pp.
1795-1800..
|
Primary Examiner: Kreitman; Stephen A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Browdy and Neimark
Claims
We claim:
1. A gas concentration measuring instrument comprising a signal
generator controlled by a feedback amplifier, a drive amplifier for
amplifying a high-frequency signal generated from said signal
generator, an ultrasonic sensor including an ultrasonic-wave
transmitting element formed of an electrostrictive type transducer
for converting the high-frequency signal amplified by said drive
amplifier to an ultrasonic wave and transmitting the ultrasonic
wave and an ultrasonic-wave receiving element formed of an
electrostrictive transducer for receiving said ultrasonic wave and
converting the same to an electrical signal, a feedback oscillating
system including a negative immitance converter connected between
said ultrasonic wave transmitting element and the drive amplifier,
a resistance and a negative immitance converter connected in
parallel with said ultrasonic receiving element, a preamplifier
connected to the input of the feedback amplifier, and an
computation output system including a mixer for producing the
difference between a frequency from the feedback oscillating system
and a reference frequency from a crystal resonator, a
frequency-voltage converter for converting the difference frequency
from said mixer to a voltage and a compensator for calculating a
gas concentration from the output from said frequency-voltage
converter and the temperature information detected by a temperature
sensor, characterized in that said ultrasonic sensor is a dampproof
ultrasonic sensor which is formed fundamentally by an ultrasonic
vibrator, a holder, and a sealing material on the outer surface of
which is deposited at least one film formed by vacuum evaporation,
sputtering, or ion plating of at least one material selected from
the group consisting of Al, An, Ph, Cu, titanium alloy, Ni, Cr,
MoS.sub.2, MgF.sub.2, SiO, and Si0.sub.2, and said at least one
film having a thickness in the range of from 500.ANG. to
5000.ANG..
2. A gas concentration measuring instrument according to Claim 1,
wherein said film deposited on the sealing material of the
ultrasonic sensor is formed by a film of a nonconductive material
deposited on the sealing material and a film of a conductive
material deposited on said nonconductive material film.
3. A gas concentration measuring instrument according to Claim 1,
wherein said ultrasonic sensor is embeded in a block and a film of
a nonconductive material and/or a conductive material is formed on
an elastic sealing material, a vibrating end surface of the
ultrasonic sensor and an end surface of the block.
4. A gas concentration measuring instrument according to Claim 2,
wherein said ultrasonic sensor is embeded in a block and a film of
a nonconductive material and/or a conductive material is formed on
an elastic sealing material, a vibrating end surface of the
ultrasonic sensor and an end surface of the block.
5. A gas concentration measuring instrument according to claim 1
wherein said at least one film includes a film having a thickness
in the range from 1500.ANG. to 3000.ANG..
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to instruments for measuring concentrations
of gas by ultrasonic wave and particularly to a gas-concentration
measuring instrument capable of measuring the concentration of gas
with high precision for a long continuous period of time by using a
highly dampproof ultrasonic sensor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is known an instrument for measuring the concentration of a
mixed gas or a single-component gas by utilizing the dependency of
the propagation speed of ultrasonic wave on the concentration of
gas to be measured as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No.
4,220,040 issued on Sept. 2, 1980 to the same assignee as the
present application. The principle of the measurement will first be
described.
The propagation speed of ultrasonic wave in a mixture gas is
determined by the constants, concentration and temperature of the
mixture gas. In other words, the propagation speed can be expressed
by the following equation (1) ##EQU1## where v: propagation speed
of ultrasonic wave in the mixture gas,
c.sub.pi : specific heat of the object gas i at constant pressure
in the mixture gas,
c.sub.vi : specific heat at constant volume of the object gas i in
the mixture gas,
M.sub.i : molecular weight of the object gas i in the mixture
gas
X.sub.i : mole fraction of the object gas i of the
mixture gas,
R: gas constant, and
T: absolute temperature of the mixture gas.
If the mixture gas is assumed to be comprised of air and carbon
dioxide CO.sub.2, Equation (1) is rewritten as
The propagation speed of ultrasonic wave was calculated at each
concentration of carbon dioxide CO.sub.2 by substituting the
constants and the absolute temperature, 293.degree. K. of the
mixture gas into Equation (2). The results are shown in Table 1 and
FIG. 1.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ CO.sub.2 wt % 0 20
40 60 80 100 ______________________________________ Mole rate 0
0.141 0.305 0.503 0.725 1.00 X.sub.CO.sbsb.2 v m/sec 343.07 329.66
315.56 300.30 285.04 268.25
______________________________________
Since .SIGMA.X.sub.i =1, Equation (2) is alternatively given as the
following equation (3): ##EQU2## Thus, the concentation
X.sub.CO.sbsb.2 is given as the following equation (4):
In other words, the concentration of the object gas is the function
of the propagation speed of ultrasonic wave v and the gas
temperature T.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a measuring system according to the
present invention, designed on the basis of the above-mentioned
theory.
Referring to FIG. 2, an ultrasonic sensor 1 includes a transmitting
transducer 2 and receiving transducer 3 disposed opposedly to the
transmitting transducer 2. This ultrasonic sensor 1 is mounted
within an object gas atmosphere 4 by a proper method. The
ultrasonic wave transmitted from transmitting transducer 2 is
passed through the ultrasonic wave path 5 containing the object gas
and received by the receiving transducer 3. The speed at which the
ultrasonic wave passes through the ultrasonic wave path 5 is
inversely proportional to the concentration of the object gas. The
transmitting transducer 2 comprises an electrostrictive element. A
drive amplifier 6 and a negative immitance converter 7 are used to
amplify a high-frequency signal generated from a signal generator 8
that is controlled by a feedback oscillation amplifier 10 and to
improve the response characteristic. The receiving transducer 3
comprises an electrostrictive element. A preamplifier 9 is used to
amplify the high-frequency signal from the receiving transducer 3
and supplies its output to the feedback oscillation amplifier 10.
The resistor 11 and the negative immitance converter 12 are used to
improve the response characteristic and the sensitivity of the
receiving transducer 3.
On the other hand, the frequency, fm of the above-mentioned
feedback oscillating system 13 has a relationship with the
propagation speed v of the ultrasonic wave that passes through the
path 5 within the object mixture gas, i.e., f.sub.m =k.multidot.v/l
(where l is the distance between the transmitting transducer 2 and
the receiving transducer 3 and k is a constant of proportionality).
Thus, the frequency f.sub.m of the feedback oscillating system 13
and the stable reference frequency f.sub.o generated from the
crystal oscillator element 14 are applied to the mixer 15 where the
difference F between f.sub.m and f.sub.o is determined. This value
F is converted into a voltage by the frequency-voltage converter 16
and supplied to the compensator 17.
A temperature sensor 18 comprises a thermistor, a temperature
measuring resistor or a kind of thermocouple for measuring the
temperature of the object gas atmosphere 4. The resulting
temperature data is supplied to the compensator 17 for temperature
by which the temperature dependency of the propagation speed of
ultrasonic wave is eliminated. The temperature-compensated output
voltage is indicated on the display unit 19 comprising an analog
voltmeter, a digital voltmeter or a recorder.
An example of the measuring method of CO.sub.2 gas concentration in
a mixture gas comprising three components of air carbon dioxide
CO.sub.2 and water vapor H.sub.2 O according to the present
invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and
3.
The gas cylinder 20 containing 100% CO.sub.2 gas and a
compressor-type air pump 21 respectively supply CO.sub.2 gas and
air to flow meters 22 and 23 with flow-adjusting valves by which
the concentration of CO.sub.2 gas is adjusted in advance. A mixing
chamber 24 for mixing CO.sub.2 gas and air is provided after the
flow meters 22 and 23. The CO.sub.2 /air mixture gas from the
mixing chamber 24 is introduced through a lead tube 26 into a
measuring chamber 25. A water bath 27 sufficiently deep to immerse
the lead tube is provided on the bottom of the measuring chamber
25. The CO.sub.2 /air mixture gas is blown off from gas blow-off
holes provided appropriately in the lead tube 26 through the water
bath 27 into the measuring chamber 25. By doing so, the relative
humidity in the measuring chamber 25 increases to as high as 95 to
100%. On the upper region of the measuring chamber 25 there is
provided a stirring fan 29 which is rotated by a motor 28. This
stirring fan 29 serves to make the concentration of the mixture gas
in the measuring chamber 25 uniform. The mixture gas is exhausted
through a mixture gas outlet pipe 30 to the outside of the
measuring chamber 25. The ultrasonic sensor 1 according to the
present invention is disposed at an appropriate position in the
measuring chamber 25, and connected by a shielded cable 31 to a
computation control section 32 which includes the feedback
oscillating system 13, the crystal oscillator element 14, the mixer
15, the frequency-voltage converter 16 and the compensator 17. The
temperature-compensating temperature sensor 18 including a
temperature-measuring resistor is connected through a cable 33 to
the compensator 17 of the computation control section 32. The
output voltage from the compensator 17 is set at 0 to 20 V against
the CO.sub.2 gas concentration of 0 to 20% by volume, so that the
reading of the output voltage represents the concentration of the
CO.sub.2 gas. As the display unit 19, a digital voltmeter is used,
and the frequency f.sub.m of the feedback oscillating system 13 is
monitored by a frequency counter 34. The mixture gas led out
through the mixture gas outlet pipe 30 is introduced through an
exhaust pipe 36 into an infrared gas analyzer 35 by which the
CO.sub.2 gas concentration is measured. In addition, a sampling
port 37 for the gas chromatograph is provided on the way of the
exhaust pipe 36, so that the CO.sub.2 gas concentration is checked
by the gas chromatograph.
A thermister temperature sensor 39 for measuring the temperature of
the mixture gas is provided in the measuring chamber 25, which
temperature is monitored by a temperature measuring instrument 40.
The measuring chamber 25 is completely sealed except for the
mixture gas inlet pipe 41 and the mixture gas outlet pipe 30.
Moreover, the measuring chamber 25 is placed within a
temperature-variable air constant-temperature oven 42 which can be
controlled to within .+-.0.1.degree. C. in order that the
temperature within the measuring chamber 25 can be arbitrarily
changed.
Thus, on this ultrasonic gas concentration measuring instrument,
CO.sub.2 gas concentration values changed in the range of 0 to 20%
by the flow meters 22 and 23 were actually measured for different
temperatures of 27.degree. C., 35.degree. C. and 42.degree. C.
within the measuring chamber 25, and the measured data from the
infrared ray gas analyzer 35 and the gas chromatograph 38 are shown
in Table 2 and FIG. 4.
TABLE 2
__________________________________________________________________________
Ultrasonic Ultrasonic Temp. Gas concentration concentration
Infrared ray within Flow meter, set chromatograph meter meter gas
analyzer chamber concentration concentration frequency*.sup.1
concentration*.sup.2 concentration (.degree.C.) (Vol %) (Vol %)
f.sub.m (Hz) (Vol %) (Vol %)
__________________________________________________________________________
27.0 0 0 37.200 0 0 5 5.58 36.752 5.6 5.6 10 10.36 36.370 10.4 10.5
14 14.14 36.075 14.1 14.1 17 17.16 35.835 17.1 17.2 35.0 0 0 37.536
0 0 4 4.07 37.205 4.1 4.2 11 11.04 36.652 11.0 11.2 12 12.48 36.535
12.5 12.8 17 16.63 36.209 16.6 16.9 42.0 0 0 37.870 0 0 3 3.37
37.596 3.4 3.4 8 7.62 37.265 7.6 7.9 12 12.19 36.890 12.2 12.6 16
15.84 36.606 15.8 16.4
__________________________________________________________________________
*.sup.1 Frequency of ultrasonic wave gas concentration measuring
system. *.sup.2 Reading on ultrasonic wave gas concentration
measuring system.
From Table 2 and FIG. 4, it is seen that the frequency fm of the
feedback oscillating system of the ultrasonic wave gas
concentration measuring system according to the present invention
represents a linear characteristic against the concentration
indicated by the gas chromatograph and the infrared ray gas
analyzer, and that the concentration indicated by the ultrasonic
wave gas concentration measuring system is sufficiently identical
to the concentration indicated by the gas chromatograph and the
infrared ray gas analyzer.
Although the foregoing description concerns an embodiment of the
method and system for measuring the gas concentration according to
the present invention including the three gas component of
CO.sub.2, air and H.sub.2 O, the present invention is not limited
to such a composition of the mixture gas.
The ultrasonic sensors will hereinafter be described which are
respectively used in the ultrasonic-wave transmitting element and
the ultrasonic-wave receiving element of the ultrasonic wave gas
concentration measuring system. The sensors including the elements
have the same structure as that of the conventional one. That is,
the sensor of this structure is formed by an ultrasonic transducer
(for example, piezo-electric ceramic such as PZT) having silver
electrodes fused together and which is attached to a plate or
holder (made of, for example, metal or plastics). This type of
ultrasonic sensor has so far been used for transmission or
reception of ultrasonic wave in the measure/control ultrasonic
equipment. This type of sensor has a drawback that the electrodes
on the surface of the PZT or the like, for example, silver
electrodes are easy to be electrically corroded in the presence of
water vapor, thus often making it difficult to correctly convert an
ultrasonic-wave signal to an electric signal and vice versa. Thus,
in order to prevent the electrodes on the ultrasonic transducer
from being electrically corroded, a sealing material such as
silicone resin, epoxy resin or polyurethane has been utilized for
preventing water vapor from entering into the holder. Nevertheless,
even the ultrasonic sensor with its ultrasonic transducer attached
to the holder and sealed with a sealing material was erroded by
gradual intrusion of water vapor after it was continuously operated
for as long a time as one to ten years in the atmosphere of 80 to
100% humidity. There is another countermeasure against the electric
corrosion which employs a metal holder and seals it by welding.
However, the adhesive resin with which the ultrasonic transducer is
attached to the metal holder is easy to be deteriorated by heat
upon welding.
The prior art will be described in more detail with reference to
the accompanying drawings. FIG. 8 shows an example of the
conventional ultrasonic sensor. FIG. 8a is a cross-sectional view
of an ultrasonic sensor 59 and FIG. 8b is an enlarged
cross-sectional view of an ultrasonic transducer 45 (made of, for
example, a piezo-electric ceramic material such as PZT, or a resin
material having a piezo-electric characteristic) and its peripheral
portion.
As shown in FIG. 8b, the ultrasonic transducer 45 is attached with
electrodes 60 and 61 and bonded to a holder 44 (made of for
example, metal or resin) with an adhesive agent 62 having a good
characteristic for propagation of the ultrasonic wave. The
electrodes 60 and 61 are connected through wires 46 and 47 to
terminals 48 and 49 which are fastened to a base 50 (made of for
example, phenol resin laminated board or epoxy laminated board) as
shown in FIGS. 8a and 8b. The holder 44 is sealed by covering the
base with a sealing material 51. This structure, however, has a
drawback that when it is continuously operated for as long a time
as, for example, one year to 10 years in the atmosphere including
water vapor, water vapor enters into the holder 44 through the
sealing material 51, making the electrodes 60 and 61 be
electrically corroded so that the ultrasonic wave cannot be
correctly transmitted and received.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a gas
concentration measuring instrument having an ultrasonic sensor used
for the elements transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave, and
which is capable of precisely measuring gas concentration
continuously for a long time by forming on the ultrasonic sensor
surface a thin film against the effect of water vapor.
According to this invention, there is provided a gas concentration
measuring system using a dampprooftype ultrasonic sensor which
basically comprises an ultrasonic transducer, a holder and a
sealing material and which is characterized in that a film of an
electrically conductive material and/or an electrically,
nonconductive material is formed on the surface of the sealing
material.
EFFECT OF THE INVENTION
According to this invention, a thin film is formed on the sealing
material of a conventional ultrasonic sensor, thereby greatly
increasing the moisture resistance of the conventional ultrasonic
sensor. Thus, the ultrasonic sensor used in the ultrasonic gas
concentration measuring instrument can be continuously operated for
a long period of time in the atmosphere including water vapor. An
accelerated test was made on the ultrasonic sensor with the thin
film formed, to be used in the present invention and the
conventional ultrasonic sensor, and the results are shown in FIG.
10. In this test, each ultrasonic sensor was immersed in 60.degree.
C. warm water and applied with a DC voltage. In FIG. 10, the
ordinate, 66 indicates the insulating resistance expressed in
megohms M.OMEGA. and the abscissa, 65 is the time for which the
test was made. From the comparison between a curve 63 for the
ultrasonic sensor with thin film to be used in the present
invention and a curve 64 for the conventional ultrasonic sensor in
FIG. 10, it will be understood that the sensor to be used in the
present invention has no change of its insulating resistance, or is
excellent in its moisture resistance. Moreover, the ultrasonic
sensor or shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 is embeded in the block 67 and a
thin film is formed on the elastic sealing material 75, block 67
and vibrating and surface 71, thereby enabling its moisture
resistance to be further increased.
Therefore, the ultrasonic gas concentration measuring instrument
using the ultrasonic sensor of which the moisture resistance is
greatly increased is almost not affected by the change of
temperature and moisture and can precisely measure gas
concentration continuously for a long period of times under
high-humidity atmosphere. This feature is extremely useful for
industry.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a graph showing a relation between CO.sub.2 gas
concentration and propagation speed of ultrasonic wave.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of the measuring
system.
FIG. 3 shows one example of the method for measuring CO.sub.2 gas
concentration on a gas concentration measuring system.
FIG. 4 graphically represents the data of Table 2.
FIGS. 5 to 7 are cross sectional views of examples of the
ultrasonic sensor to be used in this invention.
FIG. 8a is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ultrasonic
sensor.
FIG. 8b is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the ultrasonic
transducer 45 and its peripheral portion of the sensor of FIG.
8a.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an example of the ultrasonic
wave sensor to be used in this invention.
FIG. 10 is a graph showing the results of the dampproof test of the
conventional sensor and the sensor to be used in this
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention will be described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 5 to 7 are cross-sectional side views of the ultrasonic
sensors 43, 53 and 56 to be used in this invention. The basic
structure of each sensor is the same as that of the conventional
ultrasonic sensor shown in FIG. 8. The ultrasonic transducer 45 is
provided with the electrodes 60 and 61 and attached to the holder
44 with the adhesive 62 as shown in FIG. 8b. The electrodes 60 and
61 are connected through the wires 46 and 47 to the terminals 48
and 49. The terminals 48 and 49 are fixed to the base 50 over which
the sealing material 51 is covered to seal the holder 44.
FIG. 5 shows an ultrasonic sensor 43 with a thin film 52 formed on
the surface of the sealing material 51. The material for the thin
film 52 may be a nonconductive material, particularly SiO,
Si0.sub.2 or a fluorine-based resin such as
polytetorafluoroethylene which can be deposited to be thin by for
example, vacuum evaporation, sputtering, or ion plating. The
thickness of the film should be in the range from 500.ANG. to
5000.ANG., preferably from 1500.ANG. to 3000.ANG.. Since the thin
film 52 is non-conductive the portions of the terminals 48 and 49
which are projected through the sealing material 51 out of the
holder 44 must be covered by, for example, Teflon (trade name) tape
or the like in order that the thin film 52 is not deposited thereon
except the surface of the sealing material 51.
FIG. 6 shows an ultrasonic sensor 53 with insulating films 54 and
55 formed on the terminals 48 and 49 which otherwise would be made
in contact with the thin film 57 which is formed on the surface of
the sealing material 51. The material for the thin film 57 must be
an electrically conductive material which can be formed by, for
example, vacuum evaporation, sputtering or ion plating,
particularly Al, An, Pb, Cu, titanium alloy, Ni, Cr, MoS.sub.2, or
MgF.sub.2. The thickness of the film is in the range from 500.ANG.
to 5000.ANG., preferably, from 1500.ANG. to 3000.ANG.. Since the
thin film 57 is electrically conductive, the insulating films 54
and 55 are formed on the areas of the terminals 48 and 49 which
otherwise would be made in contact with the base 50 sealing
material 51 and thin film 57. The portions of the terminals 48 and
49 which are projected through the sealing material 51 out of the
holder 44 must be covered by, for example, Teflon (trade name) tape
or the like in order that the thin film 57 is not deposited thereon
except the surface of the sealing material 51.
FIG. 7 shows an ultrasonic sensor 56 with a thin film 58 formed on
the surface of the sealing material 51 and on the areas of the
surfaces of the terminals 48 and 49 which otherwise would be made
in contact with the thin film 57 formed on the thin film 58. The
material of the thin film 58 must be any insulating material which
can be formed by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, or ion plating,
particularly preferably an insulating material having coefficient
of linear expansion between those of the sealing material 51 and
thin film 57. The thickness of the thin film 58 is in the range
from 100.ANG. to 4000.ANG., preferably 500.ANG. to 1000.ANG.. Also,
when the thin films 58 and 57 are formed, the portions of the
terminals 48 and 49 which are projected through the sealing
material 51 out of the holder 44 are covered by, for example,
Teflon (trade name) tape in order that thin film 58 cannot be
deposited thereon except the areas of the surfaces of the terminals
48 and 49 which otherwise would be made in contact with the thin
film 57, and that the thin film 57 cannot be deposited thereon
except part of the thin film 58 formed on the areas of the surfaces
of the terminals 48 and 49.
The materials of the ultrasonic transducer 45, holder 44, base 50
and sealing material 51 for the sensor to be used in the present
invention may be the same as those for the conventional sensor.
That is, the material for the ultrasonic transducer may be a
piezo-electric ceramic material such as PZT, a resin having a
piezo-electric characteristic, the material for the holder may be
any metal or plastic material, the material for the base may be a
laminated board of phenol resin, epoxy resin or the like, and the
sealing material may be silicone resin, epoxy resin, polyurethane
or the like.
FIG. 9 shows an ultrasonic sensor 68 embeded in a block 67, this
sensor being the same as mentioned with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.
This block can improve the dampproof. The block 67 shown in FIG. 9
is made of a corrosion-resisting metal such as aluminum or
stainless steel or a synthetic resin. An end surface 69 of the
ultrasonic sensor 68 on the terminals 48, 49 side is set in
position by a sensor supporting portion 70 of the block 67 so that
a vibration end surface 71 of the ultrasonic sensor 68 is
substantially flush with a block end surface 72 of the block 67. In
an annular gap 73 between the ultrasonic sensor 62 and the block 67
is inserted elastic sealing materials 74 and 75 such as silicone
resin or rubber which can absorb the ultrasonic vibration of the
ultrasonic sensor 68, thereby fixing the ultrasonic sensor 68 to
the block 67. A cable 76 is a two-core cable for transmission and
reception of a high-frequency signal for ultrasonic wave to and
from the terminals 48 and 49 of the ultrasonic sensor 68. This
cable 76 is connected to the terminals 48 and 49 through an
aperture 77 bored in the block 67 on the left end surface. The gap
between the block 67 and the cable 76 is filled for sealing with a
screw bush or a high moisture-resistant resin such as polybutadiene
polyvinylidene chloride.
A thin film 78 and/or a thin film 79 are formed on the surface of
the elastic sealing material 75, the vibrating end surface 71 and
the block end surface 72 which otherwise would be exposed to the
open air. The material for the thin film 78 must have a high
adhesion to the elastic sealing material 75. For example, when the
elastic sealing material 75 is a silicone resin, it must be formed
by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion plating or the like and it
is preferably a nonconductive thin film of SiO, Si0.sub.2 or the
like. The material for the thin film 79 is necessary to have a good
adhesion to the thin film 78 of SiO, Si0.sub.2 or the like, the
block 67 and the vibration end surface 71, to be formed by vacuum
evaporation, sputtering, ion plating or the like and to cause few
pinholes in itself. Particularly, the material for this thin film
79 should be preferably a conductive thin film such as Al, Au, Pb,
Cu, titanium alloy, Ni, Cr, MoS.sub.2 or MgF.sub.2. The thickness
of the thin film 78 is in the range from 100.ANG. to 4000.ANG.,
preferably from 500.ANG. to 1000.ANG.. The thickness of thin film
79 is in the range from 500.ANG. to 5000.ANG., preferably from
1500.ANG. to 3000.ANG.. The total thickness of the thin films 78
and 79 is in the range from 1000.ANG. to 5000.ANG., preferably from
2000.ANG. to 4000.ANG..
While in this embodiment, two thin films 78 and 79 are formed,
either of the films 78 or 79 may be formed depending on the
combination of the materials of the elastic sealing material 75,
block 67 and vibration end surface 71.
* * * * *